You can hear 'maybe' inside its own spelling — 'may be': it might be so, it might not. The core is leaving a door half-open: you set something out without committing to it. Every use is that same half-open door pointed at a different thing — a fact, an answer, a number, or a suggestion.

maybe 這個字本身就藏著它的意思——may be,「可能是、也可能不是」。核心可以想成「把一扇門留半開」:你把一件事說出來,但不把話講死。每一種用法都是同一扇半開的門,只是對著不同的東西——一個事實、一個回答、一個數字,或一個建議。

From the word’s history

Late Middle English, a shortening of the phrase 'it may be (that)' — literally 'it may be so'. The modern hedging sense is the old phrase compressed into one word.

晚期中古英語,由片語 it may be (that)(「可能是這樣」)縮成一個字。今天「不把話講死」的語氣,就是那句老片語壓縮成的單字。

etymonline.com/word/maybe

One branch

不確定(留半開的門)

登入就可以看這一支怎麼連回核心畫面。

perhaps · r · A2

Perhaps — something may be true or may happen, but you are not sure.

也許、可能

原始詞典資料7 筆記錄

以下是外部詞典記錄的用法,摘錄並精簡格式,我們還沒有寫成教學內容。上面的說明才是我們自己寫的;有些用法可能上面已經講過了。

maybeadv/ˈmeɪ.bi/

  • 1

    Perhaps, possibly.

    • A small extra effort now can maybe save you much work later.
    • Maybe I was imagining it, but I could swear that the dog understood what I was saying.
  • 2

    Perhaps that is true (expressing no commitment to a decision or a neutral viewpoint to a statement).

    • Okay. See you later, maybe. — Maybe I’ll see you later.
  • 3

    Certainly.

    • Maybe not the best idea.

maybeadj/ˈmeɪ.bi/

  • 1

    Possible; uncertain.

    • Then add those may-be years thou hast to live

maybenoun/ˈmeɪ.bi/

  • 1

    informalSomething that is possibly true.

  • 2

    informalAn answer that shows neither agreement nor disagreement.

    • The results of the poll were inconclusive. We got two yeses, three nos, and four maybes.
  • 3

    informalA future event that may or may not happen.

    • About your raise: it's a big maybe.

摘錄自 英文維基詞典 English Wiktionary,已精簡格式;依 CC BY-SA 4.0 授權使用,改動後的內容同樣以此授權提供。